Adding to a string of Aussie music festival reports that could be considered the worst month of festival news in recent history, the Big Day Out 2014 lineup could now lose one of their acts following an international drug arrest.
The shoegaze-inspired DIIV are scheduled to appear on the bill for Big Day Out 2014 next January, but their position may be at risk following news that the band’s frontman and his synthpop star girlfriend have been arrested in possession of a “plastic bag containing 42 decks of heroin,” as Billboard reports.
The indie rock couple – DIV frontman Zachary Cole Smith and singer/model/actress Sky Ferreira – were arrested in New York and charged with two misdemeanour counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance after Police found large amounts of heroin and ecstasy in the pair’s vehicle.
The 28-year-old DIIV singer/guitarist and his girlfriend were reportedly stopped at a traffic light in the New York village by officers after “several vehicle and traffic” violations. A registration check then identified the couple’s Ford pick-up truck to have stolen license plates before officers found the plastic bag with the “42 decks of heroin.”
Saugerties Chief of Police Sinagra explains to Radio.com that a “deck” of heroin is a small folded paper packet. “Usually it contains enough for one hit depending, again, on how much a person uses,” he said.
(Image: Ulster County Sheriff’s Office photos. Source: Daily Freeman)
Smith was charged with “one count of possession of stolen property and one count of aggravated unlicensed driving.” The 21-year-old Ferreira reportedly resisted arrest after being found in possession of ecstasy; both were transported to Ulster County Jail and released on bail following Saturday’s vehicular drug bust.
The DIIV frontman took to the band’s twitter following the arrest to proclaim his and Ferreira’s innocence:
what you're reading is a police blotter, not the outcome of a court case. these cops wanted to fuck us, and they did. sky did nothing wrong.
— DIIV (@DIIV) September 16, 2013
The band then performed on Saturday night, including a live duet with Sky Ferreira, covering Cat Power’s ‘Nude As The News’, as Pitchfork reports.
Until the drug and police charges are resolved, a question mark still hovers over DIIV’s scheduled performance at January’s Big Day Out – featuring triple headliners Blur, Pearl Jam, and Arcade Fire – and could mean a cancellation if Smith is convicted and has to serve jail time.
The news follows a long string of disastrous reports for Australian music festivals this month over their lineups, including one of the major acts on ATP Melbourne’s Release The Bats pulling out ahead of its kick-off next month festival and OutsideIn losing their festival headliner and cancelling their all-ages event.
There’s also the ongoing saga surrounding the cancellation of Harvest 2013, while rumours circulate that promoter AJ Maddah has bought into the Big Day Out (everything you need to know on both those stories is right here).
Then there’s Pyramid Rock folding on its 2013 edition, the inaugural Boomerang Festival struggling with ticket sales, and the likely cancellation of Summadayze as messy liquidation proceedings await major Aussie promoters Future Entertainment Pty Ltd, along with McManus Entertainment and Fat As Butter promoters Mothership Music.
